As reported by Chang (2016) Mobile games are video games played online via a mobile

device, and are particularly popular when downloaded for free such as Mobile Legends and can

be single-player or multiplayer games.

According to Deloitte (2014) report, mobile games represent one of the fastest growing

sectors of the mobile application industry in Europe. Europeans have adopted mobile games,

which have become the most downloaded applications (“apps”) on smartphones.

Similarly, a study conducted by the Entertainment Software Association. (ESA, 2015) stated

gaming has partly shifted from being console and PC-based to being multiplatform and cross-

platform (i.e., video games with an online component allowing gamers to use different

hardware). This study uses data from the Tech Use Disorders (TUD, 2017) project, a prospective

study involving a panel of European adults followed since 2014 exploring problematic mobile

phone use (PMPU) in Belgian and Finnish smartphone users, because these two countries had

not been studied before in such a context (Deloitte, 2015), despite having a couple of the highest

prevalence rates in mobile phone technology usage (International Telecommunication Union

[ITU], 2015).

Similarly, the Global Consumer Survey (Deloitte, 2014) reported that 65% of the Finnish

population had a smartphone, 29% of Finnish smartphone owners played games on their phone

weekly, and the highest penetration was found among 18- to 24-year-old adults.

According to the Finnish Player Barometer (Mäyrä, Karvinen, & Ermi, 2016), the proportion

of Finnish players playing mobile games at least once a month had increased significantly from

2011 to 2015 (from 21% to 37%).

 Despite the many benefits of mobile phones to users, it has been reported primarily by South

Korean and Chinese researchers (Bae, 2017; Jeong, Kim, Yum, & Hwang, 2016; Lee, Chang,

Lin, & Cheng, 2014; Lee, Lee, & Lee, 2016; Liu, Lin, Pan, & Lin, 2016) that there can be a

negative side of smartphone usage, arguing that compulsive use of smartphones can arise from a

person’s individual characteristics and the device’s structural characteristics. First, related to

users, specific psychological traits (e.g., social anxiety and lower self-control), higher stress and

technostress (i.e., distress associated with problematic smartphone use), high frustration and

impatience without a smartphone (e.g., irritation and fear of group exclusion) have shown to be

associated with potential problematic smartphone use (Lee et al., 2014).

Based on the study of Liu et al. (2016). PMPU is a multifaceted condition requiring further

research into users’ smartphone activities, including mobile games, as these may contribute to

experiencing problems and addiction-like symptoms (Griffiths & Szabo, 2014), highlighting

another gap in knowledge that this study aims to address. It has also been demonstrated

excessive smartphone gaming can lead to detrimental health effects for a small minority of users,

including depression, anxiety, stress, worse mood, specific personality disorders, and low self-

control.

A study by Roberts, Yaya, and Manolis (2014) surveyed a convenience sample of 164 North

American undergraduates to investigate which mobile phone activities (e.g., playing games and

social networking) were associated with mobile phone addiction, but did not find that playing

mobile games was a predictor. Another study highlighted that high engagement across a wide

range of video game genres (e.g., casual, shooter, and sport games), referred to as “gaming

versatility” (e.g., the number of different video game genres engaged in), is one of the risk

factors for gaming addiction.

 According to Donati, Chiesi, Ammannato & Primi (2015) Game genres, such as the popular

massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs), are potentially considered more

addictive than other gaming genres (e.g., Dauriat et al., 2011; Kuss, Louws, & Wiers, 2012), but

these are the games that are usually played on PCs or gaming consoles rather than on

smartphones. Therefore, the evidence regarding the addictive potential of smartphone gaming is

currently scarce among adult populations in Western cultures, and no scale assesses this type of

content, and therefore further studies are required.

However, a recent study observed while depression and anxiety initially positively correlated

with addictive technology use proneness, depression (positively) and anxiety (negatively)

predicted addictive video game playing, according to Andreassen et al. (2016). Regarding stress,

problematic online gaming can be conceptualized as a response to preexisting life stress in the

framework of the stress-coping theory (Snodgrass et al., 2014).

Based on the study of Kebritchi (2010) poses the concern that games are becoming such

innovative learning tools that teachers may conclude that they don’t need to lecture, and instead

they may “rely on the game and use it as a teaching replacement and not as a supplement”. It is

important to remember that games are supplement teaching tools and teachers ultimately need to

be actively involved for them to be truly effective.